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Well,now i´ve just arrived, late in the night in madras, (chennai) international airport, the fourth biggest city of india. Although the doctor in bagkok hospital advised me not to travell to india within the next couple of weeks,i ignored his advises, and travelled, although i still felt very weak,after serious denguefever and attatched hospitalstay in bangkok thailand.
Plenty of stories and reports of various travellers who´ve travelled india, encouraged me travelling
to
this fascinating country.
I started travelling in the south first, to get an idea what it means- single travelling - by
publictransport
and motorbikes within a definitely overpopulated country ( 1.1 Milliard humans).
The masstransportation system which transfers the humans from A to B, is in reality more chaotic
and overcrowded than you may imagine, especially on busses.
Just to comprehend the existing publictransportsystem, the arrangement of tickets, and long waiting-
periodes will easily overstretch the nervs of unprepared travellers,because it´s everywhere used to
jump the queue and squeeze while queing up in long rows of waiting passengers.(mostly on busses).
For more comfort you could prefer the option to contact -ticketagents- who can do all the required
arrengements to buy a ticket for you.
You´ll find them close to bus and railwaystations, and they´ll use to charge you servicecharge for
this service.
If you are on lowbudged and have to keep your expenses low, ask at the enquirie counter for an
applicationform which is required to buy a ticket by yourself.
After completing all travelldetails(trainname,trainnumber,class) you have to queue up in long rows
of chairs in front of your certain counter.
Be relaxt and have a lot of patience and all your arrangements will succeed.
The communication in southindia is perfect, because almost everybody is able to chat with you in
english.
Finding out information, also occured in Madras(Chennai), to obtain the correct busnumbers, to
certain places or objects of interesting within the city was not a problem at all.
Taxis and rikschas do operate all around the clock and shorttrips are much more comortable, than
beeing sandwitched between plenty of passengers in busses.
It´s exhausting but it´s part of indianlifestyle, always to bargain about fares especially on taxis
and
rikschas.
After four days spending in madras (chennai), i interrupted my trip in- tiruchchirappali - 7 hours
distance, south
It was worth stopping here to visit the famous rockfort ,70 m high located in a huge rock .
The big bazar, located on the rockbottom , was interesting to visit as well , just to observe the
humans
dealing with items for alldaysuse.
The next stopover i had in- thiruvananthapuram - (thrivandrum) which is the capital of keralastate.
850.000 inhabitants do live in the city, which is known for the maximum income and educationrate
all over india.
The city is from a manageable dimension and a good spot for shorttrips on the motorbike to
nationalparks and forestsancturies in the closer area.
South of the city the well known kovalambeach attracts every year lots of foreign and indian
tourists .
Everything for travellers preference is available (international food,e.mail,moneychanger,motorcycles)
After 8 days spending on kovalambeach, our group consisting from 3 guys, started for a 2 days
tempelsightseeingtrip across tamilnadu and kerala by publicbusses.
First object of interesting was a hindutempel of vimanastyle in -sirvilliputtur- T.N. which is one
of the
most impressive ones of southindia.
At the same day we ended up in- thiruchendur - T.N. and spent the night in a very simple pilgrimhotel.
On sunrise we visited the second object, another hindutempel of southindian vimanastyle, which is
remarked in no travellguide. Not one white tourist to see, we became encouraged to enter the inner
area of the tempel. Amazing the impressive architectur and the spiritual athmosphere .
Going ahead with another publicbus destination cap comorin - kanukumari - which is the most southern
point of india.
The impressive vivekanandamonument, which honours the nameequivalent hidu philosoph is located
500 mtr. offshore of the subkontinent in the sea.
We continued our journey going back to kovalam and arrived tired and exhausted late in the evening
at the same day.
8 more days spending on kovalambeach, and stories of various travellers about -goa- the smallest state of india, did make me curious to get there . So i travelled 21 hours by train to -margao- in goa. A lot of kilometer spending on the motorbike within - goa - a former portuguise enclave, made me believe, that started from the maintouristbeach of calangute, and the partybeaches of anjuna and vagator, until to the very calm and exotic beach of palolem, locations and activities for all sorts of preferences do exist. Perfect motorcyclerouts, and interesting markets, especially the saturdaynightmarket, close to anjuna do exist to join them.
3 weeks later, i travelled back to kovalam step by step by busses and trains, and spend among other
things a couple of days in- mysore - to visit the famous keshvaratempel in -somnaphur- which is
worth visiting regarding the impressive stonecarvings.
By bus i travelled across karnataka and kerala to -kochin- at the westcoast.
The peninsula mattancherry is another interesting place, where among other things the chinese
fishernets are worth visiting, observing the fishermen catching fish and seafood.
One of the oldest european churches of india ( st. francis church ) and an old in perfect condition
jewish synagoge are located on the island, and are interesting objects to visit as well.
Plenty of restaurants on mattancherry do offer fresh affordable fish and seafood , after persistant
bargaining about the prices.
From kochin i travelled to - allapuzza- and hopped on the daily operating touriboat, destination
kollam
Beautiful trip, travelling along the so called backwaters of -kerala- spending eight hours on the
boat
in a calm, peaceful athmosphere.
Arrived in -kollam- i caught the next bus back to -thrivandrum- and by motorrikscha to- kovalam -
Some days later i picked up my girlfriend Elke from the airport, and the clock of my journey started
ticking backwards after 6 months travelling within asia.
Three more weeks time to discover the area around -thrivandrum- on a hired royalenfield motorbike,
relaxing on calm beaches, and the invitation to join a traditionell indian marriage, were been a
perfect final for the backflight after six months spending within asia.
The food in southindia is affordable and delicious, and not for vegetarians only a paradise.
Alkohol is not used to be offered in public, but inofficially available on restaurants .
Gouvernment licensed bars or wineshops are permitted to sell beer and liquor, and are more cheaper
than restaurants.
I was best advised entering india in the south first, because now i can imagine a lot more, what it
means travelling to the northernareas, which are poorer and more overpopulated and are supposed to be
more difficult to manage.
I was amazed about the fact, that apart from hindus, many christians and moslems do live in the
country, conflicts not to avoid.